Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary

Marriage & Family Therapy Program

Last Updated

December 5, 2016

The mission of the Marriage and Family Therapy (MAMFT) Degree Program is to train persons with theological/spiritual commitments to become marriage and family therapists competent to practice in a diverse, multicultural and interfaith world. Marriage and Family Therapy is framed as a professional expression of the church's ministry of pastoral care and counseling. Individuals trained in the MAMFT program gain theoretical and practical tools to work as comprehensive mental health providers in a broad range of treatment contexts with careful attention to human, family and cultural diversity. To this end, the MAMFT program is built on a foundation of the following five Professional Marriage and Family Therapy Principles: the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) Educational Guidelines, the AAMFT Core Competencies, the AAMFT Code of Ethics, the Association of Marital and Family Therapy Regulatory Board's (AMFTRB) Examination Domains, Task Statements and Knowledge Statements, and the Commonwealth of Kentucky Statutes.

The Marriage and Family Therapy Program integrates academic study and clinical experience to help students form a professional identity critically informed by religious and theological commitments and marriage and family therapy. Most graduates will become licensed marriage and family therapists working in private practice, agencies or churches. Others choose a dual-degree option (MAMFT/M.Div.) that leads to ordination as a minister who is trained – and most often licensed – as a marriage and family therapist. The Marriage and Family Therapy Program encourages students to explore and integrate both theological and systemic traditions that mutually inform their work with people and enrich their professional identity. Students receive individual supervision and group supervision based on direct observation, videotape, or audio tape of their clinical work.Consistent with the program's mission to train marriage and family therapists who are competent to practice in a multicultural and interfaith world, students entering the MAMFT program embody a range of differences in religious and educational background, ethnic and racial identity, gender, and sexual orientation.

CFLE Information

NCFR recognizes schools offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs with course work that follows the Standards and Criteria required for approval as a Provisional Certified Family Life Educator (CFLE). NCFR approval allows the school to offer their graduates the opportunity to apply for Provisional Certification using the Abbreviated Application process. The CFLE Checklist represents the courses that meet the CFLE criteria at that school. Students must complete all the courses on a checklist in order to qualify to apply for the CFLE designation through the Abbreviated Application process.